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Sector Update: Health Care

Health care stocks were advancing pre-bell Wednesday with the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) and iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) up 0.1%.Mesoblast (MESO) shares were up more than 4% after the company said it acquired an exclusive worldwide license to a chimeric antigen receptor technology platform for augmentation of therapeutic mesenchymal lineage stromal cell products.

$MESO

Sector Update: Consumer

Consumer stocks were edging higher pre-bell Wednesday, with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) up 0.1% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) marginally advancing.Stellantis (STLA) stock was up more than 4% after the company said its Q1 estimated consolidated shipments totaled 1.4 million units, up 12% from a year earlier. Separately, Bloomberg News reported that Stellantis is considering reviving a partnership with Dongfeng Motor, under which the companies would jointly produce cars in Europe and China.

$STLA

Sector Update: Tech

Technology stocks were advancing premarket Wednesday, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) slightly higher and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) up 0.5%.Snap (SNAP) shares were up more than 7% after the company said it will cut about 16% of its global workforce, roughly 1,000 employees, to generate over $500 million in annualized cost savings.

$SNAP

Oil Edges Higher as Supply Worries Continue Even as Trump Claims the War is "Close to Over"

Oil prices edged higher early even as U.S. President Trump again declared the war on Iran is near an end as traders continue to scramble for supply with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz keeping a fifth of daily supply off the market.West Texas Intermediate crude oil for May delivery was last seen up US$0.88 to US$92.16 per barrel, while June Brent oil was up US$0.81 to US$95.58.The rise comes despite Trump's comments to a U.S. television network that the war was "close to over", according to the New York Times, while on Tuesday saying he expected negotiations with Iran to soon continue.Still, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to most shipping, keeping 20% of daily oil demand from the market, as Iran continues to forbid tankers from transiting the waterway while the United States blockades Iranian ports."Iran's own blockade of non-Iranian oil keeps most crude inside the Gulf, while the US blockade now prevents Iranian crude from getting out. i.e., the (Strait of Hormuz) is theoretically closed from both sides (with some ships sailing through). The only meaningful ME (Middle Eastern) oil reaching the global market is Saudi Arabia's pipeline exports through Yanbu to the Red Sea," Ole Hvalbye, a commodities analyst at SEB Research, wrote.Despite the supply shock, U.S. inventories continue to rise, limiting oil's rise. In its weekly survey released Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. oil stocks rose by 6.1-million barrels last week, while the consensus estimate expected a drop of 1.3-milllion barrels, according to Investing.com. The Energy Information Adminstration will release official inventory data later on Wednesday morning.

NY Crude Up 1% at US$92.20 and Brent Crude Up 1.25% at Near US$96

Brent Crude Up 1% at Near US$95.80

Signs Of Tightness Abound Ahead Of Impacts Of U.S. Blockade, Commerzbank Says

Signs of tightness in the oil market are proliferating as the supply situation is set to tighten further due to the maritime blockade, Commerzbank said in a Tuesday note.According to data from Kpler, Iran's oil exports stood at 1.84 million barrels per day in March and 1.71 million barrels per day so far in April, the bank noted.The price differentials between the various gasoil and Brent contract maturities on the forward curves are signaling tightness, while the price premium for physical crude on the spot market is even larger, Commerzbank said.Another sign of tight supply is the sharp rise in official selling prices for oil deliveries from the Gulf region. Though Saudi Arabia can divert its oil via the East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea and export it from there, Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil exports have been largely paralyzed by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the bank said.For Arab Light, buyers in Asia must now pay a record-high premium of almost US$20/barrel over the Oman/Dubai benchmark. In April, the price premium was still at $2.5. Kuwait has also demanded a premium of $17/barrel over Oman/Dubai for oil supplied to Asia.

$CLX1$LCOX1$USO

Crude Oil Prices Rise As Markets Await Outcome Of Renewed U.S.-Iran Talks

Crude oil prices saw gains on Wednesday amid uncertainty about the outcome of renewed talks between the U.S. and Iran to end the war in the Middle East.Brent crude at last look rose 1.5% to US$96.24/barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.2% to $92.46/barrel. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed due to the war, affecting global crude supply.U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran could resume this week, Reuters said in a Wednesday report. This comes even as the U.S. has implemented a blockade of Iranian ports."The trajectory of oil prices will likely hinge less on battlefield developments and more on diplomatic momentum. Markets are increasingly reacting to headlines around negotiations rather than troop deployments," Reuters quoted Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova, as saying.

$CLX1$LCOX1$USO

Sector Update: Financial Stocks Advance Late Afternoon

Financial stocks were higher in late Tuesday afternoon trading with the NYSE Financial Index rising 0.5%, and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) increasing 0.4%.The Philadelphia Housing Index rose 0.6%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) climbed 1%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) shed 0.3% to $74,210, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries fell 4.1 basis points to 4.256%.In economic news, the US Producer Price Index rose by 0.5% in March, the same as in February and below the 1.1% gain expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. Energy prices jumped by 8.5% in the month after a 2.1% gain in the previous month due to a 15.7% surge in gasoline prices. Excluding food and energy, core PPI edged up 0.1%, below the 0.4% gain forecast and slower than the 0.3% gain reported in February.The International Monetary Fund now expects 2.3% US economic growth in 2026, a downward adjustment from its 2.4% estimate set out in January, and compares with the 2.1% growth reported in 2025. The IMF also revised down its 2026 global growth outlook in its World Economic Outlook update released Tuesday.In corporate news, Carlyle (CG) has attracted $1.5 billion in the first round of fundraising for its Carlyle Asset-Backed Income Fund from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors, Bloomberg reported. Carlyle shares gained 4.1%.Citigroup's (C) Q1 results came in stronger than Wall Street's expectations amid double-digit gains in fixed income and investment banking revenue. The stock rose 2.2%.Wells Fargo's (WFC) Q1 revenue missed market expectations as Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said there will likely be a lag in the pass-through of higher oil prices. Its shares dropped 5.6%.JPMorgan Chase (JPM) reported better-than-expected Q1 results on Tuesday, while Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the US economy remained resilient but warned of an "increasingly complex set of risks," including wars and energy price volatility. JPMorgan shares decreased 0.9%.KKR (KKR) has limited redemptions to 5% of its asset-based finance fund K-ABF after receiving withdrawal requests of about 7.2%, Bloomberg reported. KKR shares were up 2.3%.

$C$CG$JPM$KKR$WFC

Sector Update: Energy Stocks Fall Late Afternoon

Energy stocks fell late Tuesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index declining 2.4% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) dropping 2%.The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index shed 2.8%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index gained 0.4%.In sector news, oil prices fell amid optimism that the US and Iran may revive peace talks. The two countries could resume talks later this week, possibly in Pakistan, news outlets reported, citing US President Donald Trump. Trump continues to be open to resuming in-person negotiations soon if he believes Iran is ready to submit to his demands, CNN reported, citing people familiar with the matter.Separately, the International Energy Agency on Tuesday forecast global oil demand to turn negative this year due to the Middle East conflict, penciling in the sharpest consumption decline in Q2 since the COVID-19 pandemic.West Texas Intermediate crude oil tumbled 7.5% to $91.65 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent dropped 4.5% to $94.92 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures decreased 0.9% to $2.60 per 1 million BTU.In corporate news, BP (BP) said its Q1 upstream production is expected to be "broadly flat" from the previous quarter, while cautioning that energy market volatility may pressure results and widen price fluctuations. BP shares shed 0.7%.Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Dow (DOW) are among companies raising prices for plastics as the US-Israel war with Iran drives fuel and feedstock costs higher, Bloomberg reported. Exxon shares fell 2.2%.Shell (SHEL) is in late-stage talks to sell its South African retail fuel network to Abu Dhabi National Oil, Bloomberg reported. The prospective $1 billion deal includes 600 fueling locations and would secure a 10% regional market share for the buyer, the report said. Shell shares fell 1.4%.Bloom Energy (BE) shares jumped 24%, a day after the company said it will provide up to 2.8 gigawatts of its fuel cell systems to Oracle (ORCL) under an expanded partnership to support the software giant's AI infrastructure buildout.

$BE$BP$SHEL$XOM

Sector Update: Health Care Stocks Higher Late Afternoon

Health care stocks rose late Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Health Care Index up 0.4% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) adding 0.6%.The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) climbed 2.1%.In corporate news, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) lifted its full-year outlook on Tuesday as the healthcare products conglomerate's Q1 results surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Its shares rose 1.1%.Eli Lilly (LLY) has agreed to buy CrossBridge Bio for up to $300 million in cash, the pre-clinical biotechnology firm said Tuesday. Lilly shares were down 0.6%.Novo Nordisk (NVO) has received the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approval for a new single-dose 7.2 mg of Wegovy to treat adults with obesity, the UK regulator said. Novo shares climbed 3.5%.Biogen (BIIB) shares rose 1.5% after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral and boosted its price target to $214 from $177.Avanos Medical (AVNS) shares surged 69% after the company said Tuesday it agreed to be acquired by American Industrial Partners affiliates in an all-cash deal valuing the company at roughly $1.27 billion.

$AVNS$BIIB$JNJ$LLY$NVO

Sector Update: Consumer Stocks Rise Late Afternoon

Consumer stocks rose late Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) up 0.1% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) advancing 2.2%.In sector news, Redbook US same-store sales rose 7% from a year earlier in the week ended April 11 after a 7.6% year-over-year increase in the previous week.In corporate news, Ford (F) has a "credible" path to delivering 2027 EPS of above $2, with a march towards $3 beyond 2027, UBS Securities said in a note. UBS upgraded Ford to buy from neutral, with a $15 price target. Ford shares climbed up 4.7%.Walt Disney (DIS) will eliminate around 1,000 jobs, including positions in marketing, studio and television units, and certain corporate functions, Reuters reported. Disney shares rose 1.5%.FedEx (FDX) said its finance chief will step down in early June as the parcel delivery giant completes the spinoff of its freight business into a new publicly listed company. FedEx fell 0.8%.United Airlines (UAL) Chief Executive Scott Kirby proposed a potential combination with American Airlines (AAL) during a late February meeting with President Donald Trump, Reuters reported Monday. A consolidated carrier would be more competitive globally, aligning with the administration's focus on international trade deficits, the news outlet quoted Kirby as saying. United shares rose 2.3%, and American jumped past 8%.

$AAL$DIS$F$FDX$UAL

$AMZN$GSAT$IONQ$MSFT$NVDA

Sector Update: Tech Stocks Climb Late Afternoon

Tech stocks rose late Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) advancing 1.4% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) gaining 2.2%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor index added 2%.In corporate news, IonQ (IONQ) shares surged 19% after the company said it has been awarded a contract in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Heterogeneous Architectures for Quantum program.Microsoft (MSFT) will rent data center capacity from Nscale at a campus in Narvik, Norway, first intended for OpenAI, Bloomberg reported. Microsoft will rent 30,000 additional Nvidia (NVDA) Vera Rubin chips at the site, building on a prior $6.2 billion commitment, after OpenAI failed to reach an agreement with Nscale to run its workloads at the campus under its Stargate initiative, the report said. Microsoft shares were up 2.1%.Amazon (AMZN) agreed to buy mobile satellite services operator Globalstar (GSAT) as it aims to add direct-to-device services to its Leo satellite network. Amazon shares rose 3.9%, and Globalstar jumped 9%.Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose 3.6% after the company said Tuesday it is launching a family of quantum AI models, Ising, designed to allow companies to build quantum processors that will be able to run useful applications.

Sector Update: Financial

Financial stocks were higher in late Tuesday afternoon trading with the NYSE Financial Index rising 0.5% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) increasing 0.4%.The Philadelphia Housing Index rose 0.6%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) climbed 1%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) shed 0.3% to $74,210, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries fell 4.1 basis points to 4.256%.In corporate news, Carlyle (CG) has attracted $1.5 billion in the first round of fundraising for its Carlyle Asset-Backed Income Fund from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors, Bloomberg reported. Carlyle shares gained 4.3%.

$CG

Sector Update: Health Care

Health care stocks rose late Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Health Care Index up 0.4% and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) adding 0.6%.The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) climbed 2.1%.In corporate news, Eli Lilly (LLY) has agreed to buy CrossBridge Bio for up to $300 million in cash, the pre-clinical biotechnology firm said Tuesday. Lilly shares were down 0.6%.

$LLY

Sector Update: Consumer

Consumer stocks gained late Tuesday afternoon with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) climbing 0.1% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) advancing 2.2%.In corporate news, Walt Disney (DIS) will eliminate around 1,000 jobs, including positions in marketing, studio and television units, as well as certain corporate functions, Reuters reported. Disney shares rose 1.8%.

$DIS

Sector Update: Energy

Energy stocks were lower late Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index falling 2.3% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) dropping 2.2%.The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was shedding 2.7%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was up 0.4%.Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil sank 7.5% to $91.65 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract dropped 4.5% to $94.92 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures decreased 0.9% to $2.60 per 1 million BTU.In corporate news, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Dow (DOW) are among companies raising prices for plastics as the US-Israel war with Iran drives fuel and feedstock costs higher, Bloomberg reported. Exxon shares were down 2.5%, and Dow was shedding 2.3%.

$XOM

Sector Update: Tech

$MSFT

Update: WTI Oil Closes Sharply Lower on the Prospect of Further U.S.-Iran Talks

West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed sharply lower on Tuesday after U.S. President Trump said further talks with Iran in Pakistan "could be happening over next two days", while the International Energy Agency said it expects oil demand to fall this year on a lack of supply as the Strait of Hormuz remains essentially closed.WTI crude oil for May delivery was closed down US$7.80 to settle at US$91.28 per barrel, while June Brent oil was last seen down US$4.58 to US$94.78.Trump's widely reported comments raise hopes the two sides can reach an agreement to reopen the Strait to tanker traffic. Persian Gulf nations shipped a fifth of daily oil supply through the Strait prior to the start of the war. While some of the region's producers have increased pipeline shipments outside of the conflict, the bulk of the supply remains off the market."The SoH (Strait of Hormuz) is now essentially fully closed. Iran won't allow non-Iranian oil out while the US blockade will prevent Iranian oil to transit out through the SoH. The only oil coming from the Middle East is now coming from Saudi Arabia through the East-West pipeline to Yanbu in the Read Sea," Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities strategist at SEB Research wrote.The supply shock is forcing spot oil prices well above futures as countries compete for scant supply. The Wall Street Journal reported Dated Brent oil, for delivery within 30 days, traded at US$132.74 on Monday as desperate buyers meet a lack of suppliers.In its monthly Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency said the lack of supply is being met with a drop in demand. The agency said it expects oil demand to fall by 80,000 barrels per day this year, the first drop since the pandemic, and down by 730,000 bpd from its prior forecast."Initially, the deepest cuts in oil use have come in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, mainly for naphtha, LPG and jet fuel. However, demand destruction will spread as scarcity and higher prices persist," it said.The agency said supply dropped by 10.1-million bpd to 97 million in March due to the closure of the Strait and Iranian attacks on oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region. Global oil inventories dropped by 85-million barrels last month, with stocks outside the Middle East down by 205-million barrels."Resuming flows through the Strait of Hormuz remains the single most important variable in easing the pressure on energy supplies, prices and the global economy ... Shipments through the Strait remained severely restricted, with loadings of crude, natural gas liquids and refined products averaging around 3.8 mb/d, compared with more than 20 mb/d in February ahead of the crisis," the report noted.